Help! How Do I Teach This Highly Distractible Child (Session I)
Can a simple 20-minute lesson drag into 2 hours? Does your little wiggler seem to fall out of chair a great deal? Is he distracted by things others dont even notice? Find out what you must change for this child to stay on task and learn. Instead of trying to make this child learn like most others, find the key that unlocks learning for the highly distractible child. Well cover how to put motion into learning, making math fun (no, really!) and how to make learning experiences that cement your childs understanding of science, history, and language. In other words, come and learn practical tips that you can start using Monday morning. (Best for Pre-K through 6th).
Help! How Do I Teach This Highly Distractible Child (Session II)
Continuing from Session One, come and get even more ideas to use with the highly distractible child. Nothing is repeated from the first session. Instead, well cover how to understand this child, how to use things around the house to create fast games, and how to give tired hands a break. Well cover 10 things to remember when teaching one of the toughest subjects for this child: writing. Come get a fresh injection of great ideas and a reminder of why these kids are so great. (Best for Pre-K through 6th).

Teaching Your Child to Read Made Easy
Relax. Its easier than you think. This workshop will walk you step-by-step through a simple and easy-to-use method based on phonics and fun combined in a simple game that kids will ask for day after day. The game is learned in one minute but will grow with your child through years of learning. All the materials for this method will cost you less than $2.00.

Help! I Fell off my Lesson Plan!
When things don't go as planned, when no one can seem to focus on their spelling, when the kids (and you) need an off day, what can you do? A day away from the lesson plan doesn't have to mean learning is over. Come learn lots of ideas for an atypical day that are fun, memorable and packed with learning.

Practical Parenting -- What I Know Now That I Wish I'd Known Then
Why don't kids arrive AFTER we've gained our parenting experience? Why can't we have a rewind button to allow us to re-do what we did do back when we didn't know what to do? Carol shares some of what she's learned through the many ups and downs in her years as a homeschooling mom.

Don't Miss the Gift in This Child
Have you ever heard someone say All children are gifts from God only to roll your eyes and think Ha! They don't know what goes on in my house! If you don't look for Gods gifts, you may be missing some of His best. Come laugh and be encouraged to see just what God had in mind when he designed your child. Learn how to see your child through Gods spectacles and how to stay focused on Gods vision of your child--not the worlds.

If I'm Diapering A Watermelon Then Where'd I Leave the Baby?
Why do we start for the kitchen to get a drink for a child, get sidetracked by a paperclip on the floor and end up weeding in the garden with no idea why our child is still thirsty? Why do library books constantly disappear into black holes in our homes, never to be seen again? At least not before the fines add up? Why do we have 25 projects started in our day and only 2 or 3 are ever finished? As a self-proclaimed Gloriously Unregimented Mom, Carol shares stories and strategies from the heart (and from the trenches!) about a home run by a highly distractible mom. She brings to light the many truths distractible moms must own if ever they are to develop strategies that work. Best of all, Carol shares her firm conviction that the highly distractible mom has a real and God-given edge over the naturally organized mom. Come and learn and laugh as you find REAL help for the highly distractible mom.

A Prodigal Speaks Out
Do you have a child who is doubting his faith? Or perhaps a daughter who has rejected your beliefs completely? Are you convinced you've failed...and the state of this child's heart is weighing heavily on you and your spouse? Come and listen to Carol share her own journey away from and back to her faith after 13 years as an atheist. She'll share thoughts and views from inside the mind of a lost child. You'll learn the best thing you can do for this child and for yourself. Come and find an understanding heart that hurts and rejoices along with your own. A Year in Missions Imagine learning about the exciting lives of missionaries in a way that incorporates history and geography, science and language. Any study of history should begin with people. You can make missions a year-long unit study that covers a full school year of learning (you will need your own math program). Find out how to take well written biographies that engage your child and create a year-long study covering a multitude of learning while enriching your child's faith through a study of the lives of people who devoted themselves to teaching others about Christ.

Creation of a Homeschool Co-op
Follow the ups & downs, the mistakes and the rewards of the first two years of a now-thriving homeschool co-op. Learn how to start, what questions to ask, what costs you can expect, what policies you need up front, and what surprising things human behavior will add to the equation.

Empowering the Shy Child
God has wonderful plans for this shy child of yours. But to see them, you'll have to drop the world's view of this child as a defective child and instead start to unravel the gifts God has placed in this unique and precious family member. Come and learn this different perspective that celebrates the qualities in this child. Go home with many practical suggestions to use right away in empowering this child with the knowledge of their real value.

Margins for Moms. Limits that Liberate
Too often we've just accepted how busy our lives our supposed to be. But many of us are running through life in a frenzied fog. We have a nagging sense that it shouldn't be this way, but don't know how it should be. Even if we did, we often don't know how to get from here to there. With a bit of laughter and an unabashed challenge of the status quo, learn to take control of the input and output of your family's lives.

Oddly Wrapped Gifts: Find God's Gifts in Life's Toughest Moments
Guilt, anger, depression, jealousy, guilt...there is an extraordinary gift residing within. How to go through the process of claiming these gifts and freeing yourself from the damaging power of the painful accompaniments that often take up residence.

What are you THINKING?—Learning Styles & Beyond
This talk is BIG on the beyond. So often, learning style materials pour all their time and energy into finding the right label for your child's learning style. (Yes, we now know he's a right brained, global, sub-dominant, argyle-wearing, rational wombat...but how do I teach him to spell?) And while there are many different tools for assessment, too often these same materials are light on just what you should do after the label. How do you teach history so it sticks? What if she can't understand fractions? What if he loves language but hates to write? This workshop will be all about "What do we do now?" come away with lots of ideas you can use Monday morning.

17 Years of Homeschooling, And I Hardly Twitch at All Anymore!
Come and learn from this popular speaker and humorous author the many valuable and practical things you need to know to make it all the way to the finish line. You'll learn:

How to keep a straight face when asked for the 11,000th time about socialization.

That you need focus, determination and patience — and other lies about homeschooling.

Snappy comebacks your children can give to "Don't you miss being around other children?"

Sharing the joys of cafeteria food, health class and group showers, and other creative ways to motivate your homeschoolers to gratitude.

With much laughter and a sincere love for this unusual life we've all chosen, explore the fun side of the homeschooling journey (no, really, there's a fun side). If you love homeschooling but need a boost, you do not want to miss this.

If Thou Seekest Thee Deep Appreciation, Goest Thou Quickly and Buyest Thee A Dog
A fun & honest look at the real life adventures and frustrations of being a leader in support ministries. It isn't always easy. It isn't even always uplifting. But in this workshop, you'll learn why it is always important. Come, listen and laugh as we learn some great tools that equip us to serve with joy.

Sounding it Out (Teaching Reading)
You are the Keeper of the Keys, The "Perfect Child," and The "You" You will Become Putting Motion to Good Use (For parents of active/easily distracted children)

More Hands-on Tips for the Highly Distractible Child . . . Including Writing
This workshop is not a repeat from May 2010, but will build nicely on what Carol shared in it. Find out what you must change for the highly distractible child to stay on task and learn. We'll cover how to understand this child, how to use things around the house to create fast games, and how to give tired hands a break. We'll cover 10 things to remember when teaching one of the toughest subjects for this child: writing. Come get a fresh injection of great ideas and a reminder of why these kids are so great.

Don't Fight Your DNA
There is a push to walk and talk and sound like everyone else. Yet God designed us differently for a reason. This talk encourages kids to stop fighting their DNA and learn to trust God as Designer in creating them the way He did...with a purpose. This is a fun, even empowering talk about becoming what you were uniquely designed to become.

Don't Forget the Goal

Tin Can Travels: Lessons Learned during a 4 month RV trip with family

Carol's Achievements

Homeschooling mother (for 17+ years), who teaches a child with ADHD, and two other children.

Author: How Do I Get My Child Off the Refrigerator and on to Learning?

My hope is that this list will assist conference organizers in connecting with Carol Barnier and other workshop leaders and speakers. Furthermore, my desire is to help homeschool workshop leaders and speakers develop relationships with more convention planners and audiences. May your efforts be for the glory of Christ and the strengthening of His saints.

Disclaimer:Balancing the Sword makes no claims about the speakers' faith, ability, materials, etc. This speaker profile information is being provided free of charge. Please click the links and do your own research before issuing an invitation to your conference. Postings are subject to change.

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